It is a pleasure to welcome the Community Law Centres of New Zealand to Christchurch for your annual Hui. Thank you for choosing Christchurch.

Today is White Ribbon Day so it is a significant day to be meeting. This international symbol of hope for a world, where women and girls can live lives free from the fear of violence is one that we continue to aspire to.

May I acknowledge Shaun Hubbard, AECOM South Island Area Manager and thank him for the opportunity to respond to AECOM’s Infrastructure and Buildings Construction Sentiment Survey for the 2nd half of 2015.

He has asked me to focus in particular on the Canterbury rebuild related issues and to comment on the findings of the survey, as well as:

Welcome to Christchurch and welcome to the People in Disasters Conference.

Over the next three days you will have the opportunity to explore the themes of Response, Recovery and Resilience with a range of excellent local, national and international speakers. Our city of Christchurch provides a certain context but it is not the only reason that this conference is important.

I wish to begin by acknowledging all who have gathered here today. Those who grieve for a loved one who died on the 22 Feb 2011; those who were seriously injured on that day; those who responded to the rescue effort; those who were traumatised by what they saw or were called upon to do; those who have experienced loss as a result of the earthquake and in this I include people who lost their home, their neighbourhood, their business, their job.

I am extremely proud to be here to support the expansion of Meadows - a company founded by Philip Burdon and Roger Giles back in 1970. I was 10 years old then, which is why it so good to be here, 45 years later. People of my generation have literally grown up with Meadows Mushrooms.

Every path I go down always leads me back to the people – not as individuals, although they play an important role, but as neighbourhoods and communities.

Thank you to Tony Blackett for inviting me to open your assembly and a special welcome to Margaret Wheatley, who will inspire all of you as you explore connections, community and citizenship.

The last time I spoke at a Building Connected Communities Workshop I was a Member of Parliament wrestling with the dilemma of resigning from that role in order to run for a position I had never aspired to hold.

It is my pleasure to welcome the candidates of the 4th cohort on the CDEM Controller Development Programme to Christchurch.

Jon Mitchell, who I regard as one of my many ‘earthquake buddies’ said “my passion for disaster risk and emergency management, and the community focus [I would] bring to the subject, would be an excellent note to kick the week off with”.

I’d get away with that if you were all newly appointed local Controllers, but I know that among you are those with decades of experience, including two Chief Executives, so you should regard me as a passionate rank amateur.

I acknowledge everyone here today, and may I single out Christchurch Songpa-gu Sister City Chair Phil Tappenden – I cannot speak highly enough of the importance of his personal commitment to our relationship and the role he played along with Cr Ali Jones celebrating our 20 year anniversary this year.

May I also use this opportunity to acknowledge former Honorary Consul for Korea, Paul MacDonald, and announce that I will be formally presenting him with a Civic Award for Services to International Relations on 1 December. Please join with me in a show of appreciation for his service to this community.

When I was asked to speak at the re-launch of Brainwave Canterbury, I did not hesitate.

I remember sitting in the Great Hall at the Arts Centre a number of years ago and listening to someone called Dr Bruce Perry talk about the importance of the first three years of life in terms of brain development. I remember tears welling up in my eyes as he put up a picture of the brains of two 3yr olds side by side – one the child brought up in a loving nurturing environment and the other the child of neglect. The scale of the difference in size between the two has always haunted me.

As Mayor of Christchurch it is my privilege to welcome you to the city for this Sixth International Conference of Earthquake Geotechnical Engineering.

Can I thank the organising committee on your behalf for the work they have done, and on our behalf for choosing Christchurch.

We are indeed honoured to host such a prestigious conference especially since the previous five conferences have been hosted in: Tokyo (1995); Lisbon (1999); Berkeley (2004); Thessaloniki (2007); and Santiago (2011). With the exception of Tokyo, we are all members of the 100 Resilient Cities network pioneered by the Rockefeller Foundation, which says something about our collective understanding of the importance of resilience in the world of increasing uncertainty that we face.